MTT/SFS Mahler 8 Tops Classical Grammys; Other Awards To Higdon, Lang, Isbin

Michael Tilson Thomas’s recording of Mahler’s 8th Symphony with the San Francisco Symphony won three trophies, including Best Classical Album and Best Choral Performance. Jennifer Higdon’s Percussion Concerto was named best contemporary composition, while David Lang’s Little Match Girl Passion took the small ensemble performance prize. James Levine and the Boston Symphony, guitarist Sharon Isbin, soprano Renée Fleming and the Emerson String Quartet were also winners.

Baltimore Ballet Turns Ten

“Rightly or wrongly, Baltimore has a reputation as being inhospitable to dance. … Troupes with national profiles have tried and failed to find a large enough audience here to support them. So when [Cem and Elysabeth Catbas] arrived in town in the summer of 2000 and announced plans to found a professional dance company, and said that they were going to do it on a budget about as big as a sequin, many observers were skeptical.”